asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will remove the tariff of 20 per cent. from superphosphate of lime.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Superphosphate Tariff Removal.
The answer is in the negative. The importation of phosphatic fertilisers, free of customs duty, will be permitted under licence, if necessary, to supplement the production of Irish manufacturers and stocks in the country. Duty-free licences are granted freely for the importation of double and treble superphosphate for use as raw materials in the manufacture of concentrated granulated compound fertilisers.
If it is the policy of the Government and the Oireachtas to increase agricultural output and, to that end, to induce farmers to put out more superphosphate on their land, surely it is wholly inconsistent to levy a tariff of 20 per cent. on a commodity which we exhort them to buy more of and to use more of?
We do not levy a tariffof 20 per cent. upon superphosphate used by farmers. We can produce most of the country's requirements of superphosphates in Irish factories. If supplementary supplies are necessary, duty-free licences are given.
Is the Minister not aware that the capacity of Irish factories is not one-quarter of the total quantity that should be put out on the land and that the impact of the tariff is not represented by what the Revenue Commissioners collect at the point of importation, but that it is reflected in the price maintained by the tariff imposed? Is it not the experience that a sufficient quantity of superphosphates is not, and will not, be put out on the land while that price is maintained? Should it not be our purpose to subsidise phosphates rather than tax them?
We are not taxing phosphates.
You are.
We are not. The Deputy will be disappointed to hear that the price of phosphates produced in this country is at least as low as that of phosphates produced in any other country.
Why do you impose a tariff on them then?
Because we prefer to make these commodities here rather than import them.
Folly, folly!